Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-03-26
LOOMING UP.
A BIG INCREASE IN THE POPULATION OF
THE LOWER End OF THE CITY,
And Good Prospects That it Will DO Much LARGE
in the Spring, Ira la-Nsw Buildings
Wanted Badly.

While Wheeling has been the recipient
ola generous sized boom the past year which
has done for her q vast amount of good n
placed her again on a firm financial basis.
the attention of the public generally has
been more particularly drawn to the cent
raj part of the city because it being the
centre of commerce, would naturally feel
more noticeably the good effects of o
wave of prosperity, and, of course, it did.
fact 1t has rapidly spread throughout the
city, which fact can readily be observed
by a walk or drive about the corporation.
Nowhere is this fact more apparent to
the observer than in the extreme southern
end of the city. One, on making close hunt
is unable to find a vacant tenement ofany
sort in the lower border of the city, and
many of the residences, while most OF
them are rather small, are owned by their
occupants, who have laid enough money
aside from their wages to buy a lot and
erect a small house thereon, hoping for
something better in the future, perhaps.
Yet while these building, generally
speaking, are quite small, nearly all seem
to have an air of prosperity about them,
that a few months ago was in many cases
sadly lacking. And the filling up of all
sorts of habitatiOn in this part of town Is
something unprecedented, while the de-
mand for living quarters Is such that
many more houses would soon be occupied
if they were built. \ great many people
are now living in a close and cramped
manner, who would do otherwise were the
houses there for them to rent.
The cause of this is very plain. The La
Belle mill has been running along steadily
of late, Hobbs, Brockunier & COmpany's
glass works has been making full time and
the pottery is doing likewise. But this IS
not the main cause Of the great demand Tor
houses in the extreme southern portion OF
the city. The influx in great part comes
from overcrowded BenwOod, with her two
immense steel plants, blast furnace and
nail factory, with a large tube works COM
ing along at u rapid rate. Benwood can
not accommodate near all her workmen,
and they nave come to Wheeling. This
for several reasons. By living in the city,
although in the extreme southern part,
they have all the advantages, such
as light and water, that people residing in
the heart of the city enjoy. Then, if they
desire to come up town, they can do so at
any time by taking the street cars. The
rush from BenwOod TO the city haI also
been greater since the b. x o. put on its
extra wOrkingmen's train, which trans
ports them in q brief space of time from
their work to their homes and rice rersd.
These and a great many other advantages
have induced a good many workingmen to
locate in the lower end OF the city, and
when the tube works is completed there
will be about 500 or 600 additional fami-
lies to accommodate, the majority of whom
will no doubt prefer to live in Wheeling.
This will necessarily cause the erection
of q number of new tenements in the lower
end of the city, and will increase the pop
ulatiOn very considerably. SO far as
learned no action looking to the pro-
vision of quarters for these men and
their families have been made, but it is
evident that the time has about arrived
when such provision should he commenced.
The spring will bring forth big things, ior